United Kingdom · North-West · Lancashire
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UK Local prison operated by HM Prison & Probation Service. Listed in the GOV.UK Find a prison directory.
Capacity
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Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
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Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 7 Jul 2026 · methodology
Operator
HM Prison & Probation ServicePopulation held
male
Opened
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Region
North-West
Security level
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Death-row facility
No
HMP Preston is an ageing men’s reception prison serving courts in Lancashire, same staffing pressures from which many English prisons suffer and was only 12% off its full complement of officers, although leaders were expecting to lose staff on detached duty to other prisons in the near future. vision and a determination to address some negative outcomes for prisoners. The poor behaviour by staff members we saw in use of force footage, and staff culture that continued among some officers. experience of the leadership team. — UK IMB Annual Report (2024) — Safety: 4.1 Reception and induction HMP/YOI Preston operates as a reception prison, taking remand and convicted prisoners from both magistrates’ and Crown Courts in the northwest of England. The Board remains seriously concerned about the physical limitations of the reception area, an issue we have raised repeatedly in previous reports. The numbers of prisoner movements and the lack of space often make [...] Respect: 5.1 Accommodation HMP/YOI Preston is a Victorian prison and, as such, does not meet modern accommodation or access standards. Cells do not meet the standards laid out in HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ (HMIP) report, Life in Prison: Living Conditions. The Board has observed cells that are in a poor state, with evidence of mould, condensation, broken plaster and inadequate ventilation. 5.1.1 Kitchens [...] Purposeful activity: The sad death of the librarian had an inevitable, but unfortunate, effect on the provision of a service highly valued by prisoners. The time needed to fill the vacancy has resulted in reduced opening hours, occasional closures for staff holiday and significant limits on the Storybook Dads sessions (a charity programme where prisoners record audio or video bedtime stories for their children to [...] Preparation for release: During the reporting period, the offender management unit (OMU) has remained fully staffed. In 2023-2024, the Board noted that long-term probation officer vacancies were affecting OMU management. The unit now comprises three operational prison offender managers, five non-operational prison offender managers and three probation prison offender managers. The OMU continues to complete offender [...]
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The governor, who had been in post for nearly a year, had introduced a fresh
Aided by a new deputy, the governor was working to develop the capability and average rates for reception and resettlement prisons, and more serious working hard to reduce the supply. There were creative solutions in place to team working to improve outcomes for a population that had many difficulties with mental health and substance misuse. The governor had worked to develop Another good partnership with the education provider meant that a good proportion of prisoners were allocated to education, work or training, with meant that most prisoners were spending more time out of cell than we often seen in similar prisons, although there was still more to do to increase unlock
Overall, the prison was reasonably safe, with violence at similar levels to the incidents were rare. The ingress of illegal drugs, which were often the cause of violence, bullying and debt, continued to be a major challenge and leaders were management for prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm), where quality such as a nurse being linked to the segregation unit to provide support for both
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
What the score is responding to:
This facility scores 23. The national average across 584 scored United Kingdom facilities is 4 — 19 points above national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
5.1 Accommodation HMP/YOI Preston is a Victorian prison and, as such, does not meet modern accommodation or access standards. Cells do not meet the standards laid out in HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ (HMIP) report, Life in Prison: Living Conditions. The Board has observed cells that are in a poor state, with evidence of mould, condensation, broken plaster and inadequate ventilation. 5.1.1 Kitchens and food quality The manager has confirmed that, since the last reporting period, there has been a marked improvement in the maintenance and/or replacement of kitchen equipment, which is obviously essential to providing meal services to prisoners. During the reporting period, the kitchen has been able to obtain much-needed heated trolleys, which greatly assist transportation of food to the wings. They now have an additional dishwasher, and boilers and brat pans (heavy-duty, large-scale commercial cooking appliances) have been replaced or repaired, within a more acceptable response time from the contracted engineers. In order to ensure compliance in the serving of all meals on the prison wings, a ‘RAG’ (red, amber, green) rated system has been implemented – following the guidance of the wing servery, food safety and hygiene log book. This new system will enable spot- checks to be carried out, in order to maintain compliance in all servery areas. Under this guidance, all wing serveries are required to: • Monitor the temperature of both hot and cold food daily. • Ensure each servery is [...]
During the reporting period, the offender management unit (OMU) has remained fully staffed. In 2023-2024, the Board noted that long-term probation officer vacancies were affecting OMU management. The unit now comprises three operational prison offender managers, five non-operational prison offender managers and three probation prison offender managers. The OMU continues to complete offender assessments (OASys) in a timely way, in the Board’s view, and all sentenced prisoners seem to be allocated POMs appropriately. The Board is concerned that remand prisoners, who account for the 80% of the population, do not always have this level of support and guidance. MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements) reviews, which assess and manage the risks posed by sexual and violent offenders, are attended remotely using video conferencing. The early release scheme has led to an easing of the national prison population but had limited impact at HMP/YOI Preston, albeit that the increased rate of recalls led to a higher churn rate in remand prisons which, in turn, increased work pressures. The support hub continues to offer support to prisoners on release. The IMB has received positive feedback and is pleased with the prison's partnership with ACE Project, which supports ex-offenders to lead more stable lifestyles and provides volunteers. From the Board's observations, weekly reducing reoffending meetings are well established. HMP/YOI Preston is a town centre prison in a city with a [...]
4.1 Reception and induction HMP/YOI Preston operates as a reception prison, taking remand and convicted prisoners from both magistrates’ and Crown Courts in the northwest of England. The Board remains seriously concerned about the physical limitations of the reception area, an issue we have raised repeatedly in previous reports. The numbers of prisoner movements and the lack of space often make it impossible to hold confidential conversations about risk with individuals. Prisoners are usually reluctant to divulge important information about their potential risk factors, leaving both themselves and the prison vulnerable. Similarly, lack of storage negatively impacts the logging and tracking of prisoners’ property, leading to repeated, time-consuming investigations for both the prison and the IMB. Despite these constraints, in the Board’s view, staff continue to work to improve effectiveness of reception. Increased staffing and training have reduced complaints and compensation, whilst also achieving the best performance nationally for the turnaround of vehicles dropping off and picking up prisoners. Last year’s Ministerial response suggested that some changes to the configuration of access to the prison might be an option. To date, we have seen no evidence of this option being explored, although the Governor is constantly looking for ways to improve the facility. 4.2 Suicide and self-harm, deaths in custody Work to improve quality assurance of the ACCT process is regularly [...]
The sad death of the librarian had an inevitable, but unfortunate, effect on the provision of a service highly valued by prisoners. The time needed to fill the vacancy has resulted in reduced opening hours, occasional closures for staff holiday and significant limits on the Storybook Dads sessions (a charity programme where prisoners record audio or video bedtime stories for their children to listen to or watch at home). With the imminent arrival of a new member of staff, rebuilding Storybook Dads has been identified as a priority, due to its importance for family connection. The library also promotes other initiatives: • The Turning Pages initiative is a programme where fellow prisoners act as mentors to help prisoners with their reading skills. • The Reading Ahead programme is a national scheme where a dictionary is given as a reward for people who have read six books. 7.1.1 Education New prisoners undertake screening for both Maths and English during induction. If necessary, they are allocated to a functional skills class to raise their level. Bespoke functional skill classes are also provided, alongside the horticulture and gym offers. The curriculum has been designed to suit the high turnover of the prison population in HMP/YOI Preston. Courses are typically delivered in bite-size sections, which most prisoners can complete during even a short stay. This means that prisoners can complete a course that will be recognised at their next prison, rather than having to start [...]
HMP Preston is an ageing men’s reception prison serving courts in Lancashire, that held 680 prisoners at the time of our inspection. It is not bedevilled by the same staffing pressures from which many English prisons suffer and was only 12% off its full complement of officers, although leaders were expecting to lose staff on detached duty to other prisons in the near future. The governor, who had been in post for nearly a year, had introduced a fresh vision and a determination to address some negative outcomes for prisoners. The poor behaviour by staff members we saw in use of force footage, and which was reported to us by prisoners, was a clear demonstration of a negative staff culture that continued among some officers. Aided by a new deputy, the governor was working to develop the capability and experience of the leadership team. He had moved his and other leaders’ offices so that they were next to the main part of the jail and staff frequently told me how much they appreciated seeing him on the wings. Overall, the prison was reasonably safe, with violence at similar levels to the average rates for reception and resettlement prisons, and more serious incidents were rare. The ingress of illegal drugs, which were often the cause of violence, bullying and debt, continued to be a major challenge and leaders were working hard to reduce the supply. There were creative solutions in place to improve the behaviour of some violent prisoners, but others were not being given sufficient support or helped to change. Unusually, inspectors were positive about the quality of ACCT documents (case management for prisoners at risk of suicide or self-harm), where quality assurance by leaders meant that the standard was consistently good, although there was scope for improvements in the quality of some support plans. Living conditions for many prisoners continued to be poor; too many shared small cells designed for one with inadequately screened lavatories. The wings were kept reasonably clean but not enough to deter the prison’s large rat population. Efforts had been made to refurbish some showers and communal toilets, but significantly more investment was needed to bring conditions up to a decent standard across the site. The head of health care was doing an outstanding job and standards had improved markedly since our last inspection, with a strong and proactive staff team working to improve outcomes for a population that had many difficulties with mental health and substance misuse. The governor had worked to develop the partnership with the health care provider and this had led to innovations such as a nurse being linked to the segregation unit to provide support for both prisoners and staff, and remand prisoners being allowed to join the excellent substance misuse unit. Another good partnership with the education provider meant that a good proportion of prisoners were allocated to education, work or training, with suitable opportunities in place for what was a largely transient population. This meant that most prisoners were spending more time out of cell than we often seen in similar prisons, although there was still more to do to increase unlock time at weekends and for unemployed prisoners, where levels remained poor. The biggest disappointment in this inspection was the reduced access to family
Scrutiny inspection of HMP Preston (2020-08-11)
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World Prisons. (2026). HMP Preston. Retrieved July 21, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-preston
"HMP Preston." World Prisons. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-preston.
@misc{worldprisons-hmp-preston,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HMP Preston},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hmp-preston},
urldate = {2026-07-21}
}